Overview

©Yupeng Wu¹ (CC BY-SA 2.0²)

Students create freeze frames for each set of memories in the text Memorial by Shaun Tan and Gary Crew. They bring these to life to provide a vignette of the time and place. Students also explore ways to represent changes in time periods dramatically. They perform their vignettes and time changes in sequence.

Teaching and learning activities

©public domain (marygreenlees³)

How can memories be communicated dramatically?

Read Memorial by Shaun Tan and Gary crew.

Create a timeline of the generations featured in the text and the memories each shares relating to the memorial fig tree and statue.

In groups students create freeze frames for each set of memories. They bring these to life to provide a vignette of the time and place.

In the text Memorial, wordless double-page images representing the life story of the tree are used between time periods. Students explore ways to represent these dramatically.

Students perform their vignettes and time changes in sequence.

Learning concepts

These additional questions can be used for discussion or further investigations.

Challenge

What challenges do communities face in preserving memorials and enabling growth and development?

Change

What changed and what stayed in the same in the community around the memorial?

Caring

What was the personal connection to the tree shared by each generation?

Community

What is the significance of memorials in communities?

Commemoration

How was the memorial used to commemorate the return of service personnel from each war?

Syllabus links

DRAS2.1 Takes on and sustains roles in a variety of drama forms to express meaning in a wide range of imagined situations.

DRAS2.2 Builds the action of the drama by using the elements of drama, movement and voice skills.

DRAS2.3 Sequences the action of the drama to create meaning for an audience.

DRAS2.4 Responds to, and interprets, drama experiences and performances.